Loy O. Vaughan, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, is among the more than 250 employees who will be honored during this year’s Service Awards Program luncheon, which recognizes employees with 20 or more years of service. A list of recipients is online.

More than $39,000 has been awarded through nine grants to 15 faculty for proposals that support teaching innovation and development at UAB. All but one are tied directly to the Quality Enhancement Plan, which will launch in fall.

UAB’s ability to recruit employees worldwide adds promotes diversity in Birmingham and surrounding areas. Meet these five families featured in the paper’s Jan. 15 issue of the “Over the Mountain Journal.”

Associate Dean Jeffrey Engler, Ph.D., has been appointed interim dean of The Graduate School at UAB. Provost Linda Lucas is meeting with stakeholders across campus to discuss the future of graduate education and better determine the expectations and necessary qualifications for the next dean.

Donna Dunn, Ph.D., CNM, FNP-BC, instructor in the UAB School of Nursing, has been named president-elect of the Alabama Affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Dunn, who was elected president in October, previously served the affiliate as vice president

Graciela S. Alarcón, M.D., became the first professor from UAB to receive the American College of Rheumatology Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award during the group's annual meeting in November. The award honors a clinical scientist who is making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology. Alarcón is professor emerita of medicine in the UAB School of Medicine.

Last year, Joy Jones, assistant director of the Career Center in Career and Professional Development services, helped increase the number of nurse-shadowing programs for pre-nursing students. For her work to increase collaboration across campus, Jones has been named Employee of the Month for November.

Wdowiak Ridge, a rock-strewn hill about 500 feet long and 40 feet high, was named for the late Thomas Wdowiak, Ph.D., an astrophysicist who helped uncover firm evidence that water once existed on Mars.

Kirby Bland, M.D., Fay Fletcher Kerner Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of the UAB Health System Hospitals and Clinics, was named the 2014 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, the highest honor bestowed by the UAB Academic Health Center.

Associate Professor Virginia Sisiopiku, Ph.D., who has more than 20 years experience in traffic operations and safety, simulation modeling and Intelligent Transportation Systems, is the first woman in Alabama to hold this professional distinction.

Shirley Salloway Kahn, Ph.D., has been promoted to senior vice president for Development, Alumni and External Relations. The title change reflects the importance of this role in the university’s operations and future growth, and it acknowledges Kahn’s contributions to UAB’s successes.